Napocor stumbles towards finishing line

After a day fuelled by rumours that its bond deal was about to be pulled, the electricity utility puts out wider-than-expected indicative pricing.

A $500 million seven-year bond deal remains on schedule to price in New York tonight Friday on an indicative yield of 9.25% to 9.50%. With Bear Stearns as bookrunner and JPMorgan as joint-lead, the deal carries a Baa3BBB- rating, one notch above the sovereign ceiling, as a result of its political risk insurance PRI.

Outside the lead management group, however, there is virtually no one who considers the whole process to have been anything other than...